You need Scout Portal for processed, export-ready point clouds (LAZ, PCD, PLY, E57). You don’t need it for the raw point cloud from the SD card, or for on-site review in Scout Viewer.
This question came from an attendee at one of our Live Online Demos.
Two tools, two jobs
Every Scout 137 flight turns the built-in 3D LiDAR into a point cloud of the asset interior. What you do with it next decides which tool you use.
On site, with Scout Viewer. Open the finished point cloud on the Android tablet you flew with, or from the SD card on a Windows PC. Walk it with the customer right after the flight and export the PDF report before you leave site.
After the flight, with Scout Portal. Upload the flight data and the point cloud becomes a navigable 3D model you walk through in the browser, with nothing to install. Scout Portal runs the HiFi Profile of Scout Spatial Engine, cloud processing tuned for maximum point-cloud fidelity. Uploads to Scout Portal are built for the unreliable, low-bandwidth connections of offshore and remote sites.
Export formats (via Scout Portal)
- High density: LAZ
- Medium density: PCD, LAZ, PLY, E57
These formats import into Autodesk ReCap, Leica Cyclone, Bentley OpenCities, FME and common digital-twin platforms. All data, including processed results, can be downloaded from Scout Portal whenever it is needed.
LAS is not currently offered as an export format.
Without Scout Portal
The raw point cloud can be taken straight from the SD card, without Scout Portal. It will not have been processed by the full Scout Spatial Engine, which is only available in Scout Portal.
Scout Portal is not included with the drone: it requires a Scout Portal Business Subscription.
Proof
Processed in Scout Portal, the point cloud is measured to USIBD LOA20 against a terrestrial laser scan, with no control points and no GNSS. The inspection and the as-built model become the same file. For a look at how teams use it day to day, read how the Scout Portal is changing confined-space inspection.
In the demo we open a real point cloud in Scout Portal, measure it and export it.
Short question? 15 min with an engineer